Traveling Southlander lands local role in ‘Gypsy’
By Betty Mohr bettybmohr@aol.com January 25, 2012 3:36PM
Andrea Collier, of Palos Heights, stars as June in "Gypsy" at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace. | Brett Beiner Photography photo
‘GYPSY’
♦ Through April 1
♦ Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace
♦ Tickets, $35-$46
♦ (630) 530-0111;
www.drurylaneoakbrook.com
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Updated: February 28, 2012 8:06AM
She has performed on stages in New York, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, but now Andrea Collier will be acting, singing and dancing near her hometown.
“This is the first time that I’m going to be in a Chicago-area show. Up until now, I’ve been working in out of town shows,” she said.
The Palos Heights’ resident will play the part of June in “Gypsy,” which runs to April 1 at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace.
“They put a wig on me and I go out and belt out the songs. I’m a soprano, but I also have a big-belt voice. June has a big-belt voice so maybe that’s why I got the part.
“The show takes place over many years, and I play June from the ages of 9 to 13. By the time she’s a teen, she’s tired of her mother treating her like a baby and telling her what to do.
“She wants to grow up, and at 13 she runs away to be on her own.”
“Gypsy,” which debuted on Broadway in 1959, centers on an overbearing and pushy stage mother who is determined to make a star of her talented and beautiful daughter, Jane.
To that end the mother leaves her husband and hooks up with a man who sells candy to vaudeville houses.
When June runs away, Rose centers her drive on her other daughter, homely Louise, who believes she has no talent.
Eventually, Louise becomes the famous burlesque stripper with the moniker of Gypsy Rose Lee.
“The musical is based on Gypsy Rose Lee’s 1957 memoirs, which I read,” Collier said.
“ ‘Gypsy’ is about a family. It’s not a typical family; it’s a pretty dysfunctional family. Her family was totally unlike my family, which has been very supportive of me.
“I really understand June. I understand what she went through. She has to turn it on when she goes on stage. That’s what I have to do when I perform.
“Whether you’re in the mood to smile or not, you go out and you give it your best.”
Collier said she caught the acting bug early from her grandmother.
“I used to watch old movie musicals on TV and video with my grandmother. I watched performers singing and dancing, and thought it looked like so much fun.
“My grandmother encouraged me by telling me that I could grow up to do the same thing.”
When Collier attended Shepard High School in Palos Heights, she took voice lessons in school and participated in many of the school’s productions.
“I began performing in eighth grade, but my grandmother passed away before that. I felt so bad that she never saw me perform,” Collier said.
The 25-year-old performer lives at home with her parents in Palos Heights. She travels so much for out-of-town auditions that she said it makes more sense for her to live at home.
Collier said her biggest challenge came early in her career.
She knew she wanted to be a performer but the University of Illinois, where she went to college, didn’t have a degree in musical theater.
Instead, Collier majored in music education, which isn’t the same thing.
“That was one of the reasons that getting started in the musical theater business was difficult. The musical theater majors knew so much more about auditions and getting jobs and working in the theater,” Collier said.
“They had learned a lot that I hadn’t because of my major. It was very challenging to go on auditions for another reason. Getting rejected was hard.
“Now I look at auditions and rejections in a new light. You can go for 100 auditions and get one part. I’ve learned that you have to ignore all the rejections and take the one part you get and run with it.”
Collier said she tries to stay positive and gets excited every time she gets a new part.
“I’m looking forward to the next show after ‘Gypsy,’ which will be ‘Hairspray’ at Drury Lane,” she said.
“I’m playing Brenda and I’m understudying Tracy, the lead. As long as I have a show up ahead, I’m happy.”
Betty Mohr is a local free-lance writer.
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